Led Zeppelin Vs. The Beatles - Who Is The True Rock G.O.A.T.?

[DudleySmith]

up until 66 yes.....after that you just sound like someone who didnt care for the beatles...

lol Why do these Boy Band fans get so overwrought when people don't gush over their favorite crushes?

 

[DudleySmith]

Uriah Heep please a few ok songs than faded away, what about Humble Pie?

So? As I pointed out to someone claiming the Beatles were 'innovative' and big 'influencers', they weren't, they were just essentially a marketing gimmick, nothing original, and rock was already well on its way in other directions, more adult and not just more pablum pop. They Beatles couldn't keep up, all they had was some pathetic bubble gum stuff like Abbey Road and Let It Be. Their audience grew up and moved on, they didn't. They were just a pop Boy Band marketing business. They appealed to the same markets then that Britney Spears appeals to today.

 

[Harry Dresden]

lol Why do these Boy Band fans get so overwrought when people don't gush over their favorite crushes?

boy bands dont compose their own music or play their instruments....how come you dont know the difference?...

 

[alang1216]

Led Zeppelin Vs. The Beatles
Who Is The Rock-N-Roll G.O.A.T.?
​

First off I have to say that I am an unapologetic Zep head, and get tired of hearing my whole life that the Beatles are the greatest rock band in history. But is this really true?
2nd off I want to say that the Beatles were a great band who were way ahead of their time. Their songs will ALWAYS be remembered as some of the greatest ever written. Someone would be hard pressed to find a greater collaboration as was the case with McCartney and Lennon.
I will state my case for Zeppelin below, and would love to hear yours.

The first thing that has to be looked at between these two great bands is with record sales. The Beatles have far more record sales than do Zeppelin, but their is more to this issue than meets the eye.

1. The Beatles released 19 studio albums. That's 10 more then Led Zeppelins 9 studio albums. It was a common practice in rock for a band to record an albums than go on tour for almost a year to promote it, than come off of the road, again record an album, than back on tour again etc..
The Beatles stopped touring in 1966, and this enabled them to release multiple albums in a year to everyone else's 1.
2. Singles. Who can possible count all of the 45 rpm records that the Beatles sold to millions of love struck teeny bopper girls. Led Zeppelin did not release singles. If you wanted to hear them you had to buy the album. Imo, this is what created what is referred to as album rock.

So, before record sales can be used to say who is the greatest of the two, than you have to remove 10 of the Beatles studio albums to match Zeppelins 9 studio albums. Also, you have to remove the millions and millions of 45 rpm records that the Beatles released because Zeppelin did not release singles.

The next issue I would say would be promotion. The Beatles were the most heavily promoted band in history. To this day I can't think of another band that came close. The Beatles name and images were on just about everything. Their were Beatles dresses, record players, wigs, stamps, key chains, guitars, mirrors, watches, pendants, bowling balls and on and on and on. 6 months before they came to America posters were plastered everywhere proclaiming The Beatles are coming!, The Beatles are coming!. Radio d.j.'s were almost non stop declaring the same thing.
In contrast Led Zeppelin were the complete opposite, and the least commercial band in history. They wanted their music to speak for them, and not some gimmick. They even refused to appear on television. Interviews with Zeppelin were rare. Their is an early interview though were John Bonham the Zep drummer points out that people went to see the Beatles live just to look at them. You couldn't even hear the ban play. But to Zeppelin it was about the music they and not the image.

The last thing would be about musicianship and talent. So, lets compare these bands with that in mind.
1. Singer. I really don't think even die hard Beatles fans would disagree that Robert Plant is a far greater singer than any one of the fab four.

2. Guitar. George Harrison was an awesome player, and much better after the Beatles broke up. However, Jimmy page is legendary. I have never seen a list of the greatest guitar play of all time that didn't have him at 1 or at least top 3.. He was a riff machine. I doubt there is a Harrison tune that page cannot play, and probably many Page pieces that Harrison just could not play.

3. Bass. I think Paul McCartney was a good bass player, even better than he got credit for. But was no match for John Paul Jones.

4. Drums. Do I even really have to point this out. John Bonham is considered the greatest rock drummer in history. He played an 11 piece kit and used every single piece of it. What he was able to do still has most pro drummers in awe of him. If you've never heard "Moby Dick" than I suggest you give it a listen. Ring Starr? I guess you could he took a 3 piece kit as far as you could take it, but he could have easily have been replaced and not have been missed.

Okay, I guess this is the end of my case that Led Zeppelin not the Beatles are indeed the Rock-N-Roll G.O.A.T.. Their 300 million album sales I would venture to say out sales the Beatles if you take what I said above and even the game up the way it should be done for a true measure of who the greatest are.
What do you say?

I think one measure is their impact on music. The Beatles invented many sounds and techniques later used by others. Their list of firsts is extensive. I lived through both and the Beatles were truly unique. Zep was great but their impact was trivial compared to the Beatles.

 

[sealybobo]

Led Zeppelin Vs. The Beatles
Who Is The Rock-N-Roll G.O.A.T.?
​

First off I have to say that I am an unapologetic Zep head, and get tired of hearing my whole life that the Beatles are the greatest rock band in history. But is this really true?
2nd off I want to say that the Beatles were a great band who were way ahead of their time. Their songs will ALWAYS be remembered as some of the greatest ever written. Someone would be hard pressed to find a greater collaboration as was the case with McCartney and Lennon.
I will state my case for Zeppelin below, and would love to hear yours.

The first thing that has to be looked at between these two great bands is with record sales. The Beatles have far more record sales than do Zeppelin, but their is more to this issue than meets the eye.

1. The Beatles released 19 studio albums. That's 10 more then Led Zeppelins 9 studio albums. It was a common practice in rock for a band to record an albums than go on tour for almost a year to promote it, than come off of the road, again record an album, than back on tour again etc..
The Beatles stopped touring in 1966, and this enabled them to release multiple albums in a year to everyone else's 1.
2. Singles. Who can possible count all of the 45 rpm records that the Beatles sold to millions of love struck teeny bopper girls. Led Zeppelin did not release singles. If you wanted to hear them you had to buy the album. Imo, this is what created what is referred to as album rock.

So, before record sales can be used to say who is the greatest of the two, than you have to remove 10 of the Beatles studio albums to match Zeppelins 9 studio albums. Also, you have to remove the millions and millions of 45 rpm records that the Beatles released because Zeppelin did not release singles.

The next issue I would say would be promotion. The Beatles were the most heavily promoted band in history. To this day I can't think of another band that came close. The Beatles name and images were on just about everything. Their were Beatles dresses, record players, wigs, stamps, key chains, guitars, mirrors, watches, pendants, bowling balls and on and on and on. 6 months before they came to America posters were plastered everywhere proclaiming The Beatles are coming!, The Beatles are coming!. Radio d.j.'s were almost non stop declaring the same thing.
In contrast Led Zeppelin were the complete opposite, and the least commercial band in history. They wanted their music to speak for them, and not some gimmick. They even refused to appear on television. Interviews with Zeppelin were rare. Their is an early interview though were John Bonham the Zep drummer points out that people went to see the Beatles live just to look at them. You couldn't even hear the ban play. But to Zeppelin it was about the music they and not the image.

The last thing would be about musicianship and talent. So, lets compare these bands with that in mind.
1. Singer. I really don't think even die hard Beatles fans would disagree that Robert Plant is a far greater singer than any one of the fab four.

2. Guitar. George Harrison was an awesome player, and much better after the Beatles broke up. However, Jimmy page is legendary. I have never seen a list of the greatest guitar play of all time that didn't have him at 1 or at least top 3.. He was a riff machine. I doubt there is a Harrison tune that page cannot play, and probably many Page pieces that Harrison just could not play.

3. Bass. I think Paul McCartney was a good bass player, even better than he got credit for. But was no match for John Paul Jones.

4. Drums. Do I even really have to point this out. John Bonham is considered the greatest rock drummer in history. He played an 11 piece kit and used every single piece of it. What he was able to do still has most pro drummers in awe of him. If you've never heard "Moby Dick" than I suggest you give it a listen. Ring Starr? I guess you could he took a 3 piece kit as far as you could take it, but he could have easily have been replaced and not have been missed.

Okay, I guess this is the end of my case that Led Zeppelin not the Beatles are indeed the Rock-N-Roll G.O.A.T.. Their 300 million album sales I would venture to say out sales the Beatles if you take what I said above and even the game up the way it should be done for a true measure of who the greatest are.
What do you say?

1. The Beatles. The Beatles are unquestionably the best and most important band in rock history.
2. The Rolling Stones. ...
3. Aerosmith
4. The Grateful Dead. ... No
5. Velvet Underground. ... No
6. Led Zeppelin. ...
7. Ramones. ... No
8. Pink Floyd.

Led is on the Mount Rushmore but Beatles are the goat

 

[sealybobo]

I remember when the Beatles were compared to the Rolling Stones and of course we heard "who's better?" And someone said (I don't remember who) "It's like comparing Rembrandt to a house painter. They are both painters but not in the same way." That's a good way to look at this argument. Call both rockers but not in the same way. The Beatles ran the gamut from Metal to Classical and Zeppelin remained in the rock world for the most part. I think history will tell the story in that Beatles music is timeless to a greater degree. I love them both but for different reasons. I only wish that The Beatles had lasted as long. Zep's rendition of "Kashmir" live from Celebration Day reminded me that greatness can indeed endure time.

Consider all the great song writers and singers. Billy Joel, Elton John, etc. eventually they run out of songs. Perhaps we got just the right amount of them?

Then you got John lennon solo, paul solo. George Harrison solo. Did ringo do a solo album?

I think we got the best of the Beatles through Paul. His music all these years has been wonderful. To this day he puts on a great concert. Led Zeppelin does not.

 

[Wickerthing]

Consider all the great song writers and singers. Billy Joel, Elton John, etc. eventually they run out of songs. Perhaps we got just the right amount of them?

Then you got John lennon solo, paul solo. George Harrison solo. Did ringo do a solo album?

I think we got the best of the Beatles through Paul. His music all these years has been wonderful. To this day he puts on a great concert. Led Zeppelin does not.

You may be right but I like to think that if the animosity never happened over Yoko or whatever the breakup was about, that they would have continued on their path to greatness. That's evident IMHO because each album was better than the last one and Abbey Road was a genuine diamond. Taking nothing away from Zeppelin. An even greater outcome, again IMHO is if they would have continued as a group and each did their own thing as individuals. Also, to me, to compare them to Zeppelin is kind of unfair because I viewed them as very different in their music, their style and their subject matter. I like to think of each of them as unique and great in their own right. I'm not crazy about all of this ranking stuff. I think it just gets in the way of appreciating them and their individualism.

 

[sealybobo]

You may be right but I like to think that if the animosity never happened over Yoko or whatever the breakup was about, that they would have continued on their path to greatness. That's evident IMHO because each album was better than the last one and Abbey Road was a genuine diamond. Taking nothing away from Zeppelin. An even greater outcome, again IMHO is if they would have continued as a group and each did their own thing as individuals. Also, to me, to compare them to Zeppelin is kind of unfair because I viewed them as very different in their music, their style and their subject matter. I like to think of each of them as unique and great in their own right. I'm not crazy about all of this ranking stuff. I think it just gets in the way of appreciating them and their individualism.

It’s just we all know Beatles are number one and everyone else is fighting for two.

I guess there is a really long boring slow documentary out on the Beatles but anyone who loves them will want to see all 6 hours of it. In it you see yoko and Linda being allowed in the studio. I was a madhouse.

But yea I remember wishing or hoping they’d eventually get back together.

 

[Ringo]

So? As I pointed out to someone claiming the Beatles were 'innovative' and big 'influencers', they weren't, they were just essentially a marketing gimmick, nothing original,... They were just a pop Boy Band marketing business. They appealed to the same markets then that Britney Spears appeals to today.

Is this how you play to be popular in school - say outrageous stupidities in the presence of adults, so that your dumb friends say: "Cool, dude!"? How old are you now?

 

[alang1216]

1. The Beatles. The Beatles are unquestionably the best and most important band in rock history.
2. The Rolling Stones. ...
3. Aerosmith
4. The Grateful Dead. ... No
5. Velvet Underground. ... No
6. Led Zeppelin. ...
7. Ramones. ... No
8. Pink Floyd.

Led is on the Mount Rushmore but Beatles are the goat

Of all the concerts I've been to, admittedly not all that many, the Grateful Dead offered the best live band experience. Even better than the Stones who I saw twice. I wouldn't rank the Dead above the Stones but their concerts were wonderful.

 

[Wickerthing]

lol Why do these Boy Band fans get so overwrought when people don't gush over their favorite crushes?

To compare the Beatles to Britney Spears is ludicrous. Shows clearly that you know absolutely nothing about music or history. Do you know the impact that they had on youth in Russia and throughout the USSR? Many Russian youth learned to speak English through Beatles lyrics. They traded bootlegged copies of albums and even developed a technique to use the plates from XRays to hold and play back the music. Beatles music opened their horizons and introduced them to freedoms that many didn't realize they were being denied. They held underground raves and fell in love to the music of the Beatles. It affected their lives in many positive ways because they knew that what they were listening to was special and classic. They loved the Beatles music on an even deeper level than many American kids did. Britney Spears is a silly and ignorant comparison.

 

[sealybobo]

Of all the concerts I've been to, admittedly not all that many, the Grateful Dead offered the best live band experience. Even better than the Stones who I saw twice. I wouldn't rank the Dead above the Stones but their concerts were wonderful.

Were you on drugs?

 

[sealybobo]

To compare the Beatles to Britney Spears is ludicrous. Shows clearly that you know absolutely nothing about music or history. Do you know the impact that they had on youth in Russia and throughout the USSR? Many Russian youth learned to speak English through Beatles lyrics. They traded bootlegged copies of albums and even developed a technique to use the plates from XRays to hold and play back the music. Beatles music opened their horizons and introduced them to freedoms that many didn't realize they were being denied. They held underground raves and fell in love to the music of the Beatles. It affected their lives in many positive ways because they knew that what they were listening to was special and classic. They loved the Beatles music on an even deeper level than many American kids did. Britney Spears is a silly and ignorant comparison.

Yet black people here in America didn't give a rats ass about the Beatles. They thought they sucked. They preferred Motown.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Yet black people here in America didn't give a rats ass about the Beatles. They thought they sucked. They preferred Motown.

and of course you being a black guy,you know who black people liked....right?...many black artist covered beatle songs....

 

[sealybobo]

and of course you being a black guy,you know who black people liked....right?...many black artist covered beatle songs....

I went to an all black school. And Howard Stern tells a similar story about bring a record in to school day back when he went to an all black school. He was mocked for listening to the Beatles. The black community back then loved Motown not the Beatles.

See, white boys like you don't know what it was like living in the hood. You don't know how different the culture is. I do. When I moved to an all white neighborhood I remember the whites made fun of my black taste in music. I can remember one song specifically when this happened.

Remember "cupid, draw back your bow, and let your arrow flow, straight to my lovers heart" Sam Cooke. All my white friends made fun of me for listening to stuff like that and they were listening to Led Zepplin, Aerosmith, Def Leppard. Or remember Cool and the Gang? I loved that shit. or Commodores, Stevey Wonder, etc.

Tell you what. Let's ask a black person on Quora

Most of the black people I know don't listen to the Beatles. It's just not their type of music, and I'm around a lot of black people daily, whether I'm in a professional setting with professional black people or around lower/working class black people, they generally don't listen to the Beatles. Most of them don't even know who Paul McCartney or John Lennon are. I'm pretty sure if you played a random Beatles’ song, there’s a 95% chance that the black people will NOT know that the song was a Beatles song. They're just not that familiar with them. However, I've notice that many black people are familiar with and love the hit song “Twist and Shout”, which is probably the only Beatles song that is popular and well liked by black people as a whole, but I could be wrong. By the way, “Twist and Shout” was originally recorded by The Top Notes which then became a hit by the Isley Brothers which then became a global hit by the Beatles.

I'm one of the very few black people who do listen to the Beatles. But then again, I also like to listen to other classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, and Pink Floyd.

Most black people don't really listen to classic rock music in the first place and so therefore, don't listen to The Beatles.

 

[sealybobo]

and of course you being a black guy,you know who black people liked....right?...many black artist covered beatle songs....

Do I have to be a black guy to know what type of music black people like?

Or maybe all I need to do is listen to black radio stations and talk to black people.

Very few black people like Elvis. Did you know that?

 

[alang1216]

Were you on drugs?

Maybe you overlooked the part where I said I was at a Grateful Dead concert.

 

[Ringo]

Most of the black people I know don't listen to the Beatles.

That's why so many youtube videos where blacks react to Beatles songs with admiration...

 

[sealybobo]

That's why so many youtube videos where blacks react to Beatles songs with admiration...

Have you seen that video of the two black kids hearing great classical rock music for the first time? So funny. Yes, they appreciate it now. I'm just telling you back in the 70's, 80's and even beyond the black community, FOR THE MOST PART, appreciates R&B a lot more than they do the Beatles or Nirvana.

I dated a black girl. Actually a few but this one particular girl told me black people secretly love Bon Jovi.

 

[sealybobo]

That's why so many youtube videos where blacks react to Beatles songs with admiration...